Printing device



April 21, 1931. R. M. DUGDALE PRINTING DEVICE Filed May 2. 1929 2Sheet's-Sheet 1 JOr'Al 00E /0 .STATE $7.'

BOSTON MASS.

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Patented Apr. 21, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE RICHARD M. DUGDALE,OF DEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO FARRINGTON MANUFACTURING COMPANY,F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION 0F MASSACHUSETTS Application ledMay 2, 1929.

This invention relates to a device for printing names and addresses orother indicia on sales slips or the like and has f or its principalobjects the provision of a device for use by department stores and otherestablishments which avoids the many mistakes ordinarily resultin fromillegible and inaccurate writing o names and addresses'by sales clerks,which facilitates identification of charge customers by the use of aprinting plate vcarried by the customer for printing the sales slips,which avoids all tendency to soil the printing plate with ink in thepilinting process so that the plate may be freely handled and carried ina purse without soiling the hands or purse contents, which clearly andsharply prints any reasonable number of carbon copies, which requireslittle effort in manipulation so that it may be used by sales girls withfacility, which is sufficiently light and compact to be readily portableif desired, which may be arranged to open automatically for theinsertion'of ,the printing plate and sales slips or the like in thenormal and natural manner of lifting the device by the operating handle,which ma be used with ink sheets of either the rib on type or carbonsheet type, which facilitates the insertion of the printing plate, whichpermits the use of a printing plate having the indicia in non-reversedorder for ready reading, and which is generally superior to priordevices for similar uses.

For the purpose of illustrating the genus o f the invention, typicalembodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings in which,

Fig. lis a front elevation with parts in section;

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a` rear elevation with portions Fig. 4 is a plan view of theprinting plate;

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5 5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a front elevation of a modification with parts broken away;

Fig. 7 is a section on line 7-,7 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a section on line 8 8 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 9 is a detailed sectional view;

PRINTING DEVICE Serial No. 359,816.

Fig. 10 is a section on line 10-10 of Fig. 9; and

Fig. l1 comprises two views of one of the ribbon reels.

The particular embodiment of the invention shown -in Figs. 1 to 5, and 9to 11 inclusive, comprises a casing 1 having its lower end open, a plateholder 2 pivoted to the casing at 3 to swing from the closed positionshown in Fig. 1 to an open position such as shown in Fig. 6, an innercasing 4 welded or otherwise mounted on the inner face of the back ofthe outer casing 1 and having two integral' flanges 5 extendingforwardly at right angles to serve as ribbon guides, theV upper andlower ends of these flanges being bent inwardly as shown in Fig. 1, ahorizontal guide bar 6 welded or otherwise' mounted on the flanges 5and/or the back of the casing 4, a roller carriage 7 which is U shapedin cross section, as shownin Fig. 2, and which has a longitudinalopening to receive guide 6, rollers 8 journalled in the dependingflanges 9 of the carriage, a cam 10 extending upwardly from the top ofthe carriage 7, a spring 11 yieldingly urging the carriage to the right(Fig. l) and actuating Y mechanism cooperating with the cam 10 to movethe carriage to the left against the action of the spring 11. v

The particular actuating mechanism illustrated in Figs. l, 2 and 3comprises a plunger 12 sliding in a tubular extension 13 extendingupwardly from the casing 1, a cam roller 14 journalled in the lower endof the plunger in cooperative relationship with the cam 10, a .pin 15fast in the extension 13 and extending through a slot in the plunger 12,a second plunger 16 sliding in a guideway in extension 13 parallel tothe guideway of the plunger 12, a pin 17 interlocking the two plungerstogether and aspring 18 normally holding the plungers in uppermostposition.

When using an ink ribbon the referred mechanism for supporting theribbon is illustrated in Figs. 1, 9, 10 and 11. This mechanism comprisestwo stud shafts 19 4 loosely to receive a ratchet wheel 22 and a spacingWasher 23. The ratchet wheel 22 has pins 24 projecting forwardlytherefrom immediately outside the eriphery of the flange 21 on the shaft19. he inner casinor 4 is provided with a recess 25 immediately lbJeloweach of the reel supports and a spring 26 is mounted on the inner casing4, by means of struck-up ears 35 (Fig. 9), to extend into the recess 25and bear against the spacing washer 23 frictionally to retard rotationof the ratchet wheel 22 around the shaft 19. The forward ends of theshafts 19 are provided with grooves 27 to interlock with bayonet slots28 on the front cover 29, so that the ribbon reels are held on theshafts 19 by the front cover 29 when the c over is ap lied to the casing1 as shown in Flg. 6.

'Phe ribbon reels are preferably constructed as shown in Fig. 11,comprising a tubular part 30 having radial flanges 31 and 32 at theopposite ends, the rear flanges 32 having teeth 33 struck rearwardlytherefrom to interengage with the pins 24 on the ratchet wheels. Asshown in Fig. 3 the ratchet wheels have their teeth reversed withrespect to each other so that the ribbon 34 is fed in one directionacross the bottom of the casing 1 when one ratchet wheel is rotated, andin the reverse direction when the other ratchet wheel lis actuated. Thepreferred mechanism for actuating the ribbon reels is shown in Figs. 1,2 and 3 and comprises pawl means in the form of a tumbler 36 pivotallymounted on the lower end of plunger l2 by the same pin 37 which supportsthe cam follower 14. Pivotally mounted on the back of the tumbler aretwo pawls 38 for actuating the two ribbon reels respectively.Pivotallymounted on the forward face of the tumbler 36 are two rollers39 for engagement with the periphery of rolls of ribbon on the two reelsrespectively. The tumbler 36 is movable from a central position toeither of two operative positions in which the pawls 38 cooperate withthe ratchets 22 respectively. A spring 40 is mounted on the inside ofthe inner case 4 in cooperative relationship with a lug 41 on thetumbler 36 to snap the tumbler from the central position into either ofits operative positions and yieldingly to hold it in either of thelatter positions.` As shown in Fig. 1, the tumbler is in the right-handoperative position (left-hand position when viewed from the rear as inFig. 3) to actuate the right-hand ribbon reel, the right-hand pawl 38engaging the right-hand ratchet 22 to feed the ribbon one step to theright each time the plungers 12 and 16 are returned to raised positionby the springs 11 and 18. When the roll of ribbon on the actuated reelreaches a predetermined diameter, it moves the adjacent roller 39sulliciently to snap the tumbler into the other operative posltion,

whereupon the feed of the ribbon is reversed.

While any one of a great variety of printing plates may be employed withthis device, a suitable form comprises a pressed metal plate P, such asshown in Figs. and 5, which has the indicia embossed in its centralraised portion. This plate fits into a recess in the upper side of theplate holder 2 and may either rest in the recess by gravity or be eld bya. friction or positive catch. As shown in the figures, the rear edge ofthe plate frictionally engagesin a groove 42 at the rear of the recess.

The modification shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8 is similar to that shown inthe remaining Iigures except in two respects. place, the plun er 12 isactuated by a lever 43 pivoted in t e upper end of the plunger at 44,and having its short end pivotally 1nterconnected with the casing by alink 45. In the second place each of the rollers 8 are .journalled in aseparate U-shaped support 46, which extends over a block 47 hav- Ving arecess to receive the guide plate 6.

The sides of the block 47 are milled to proide grooves for the dependingportions of the U-shaped supports 46, to permit vertical movement of therollers and supports relative to the block 47.' A rubber block 48 isprovided above the horizontal portion of .each roller support. A plate49 extends across the top of the rubber blocks and is secured to theblock`47 by means of screws as shown at 50 in Fig. 6. The cam l10' ismounted on the' top plate 49. Thus each roller is independently movablein a vertical direction and is yieldingly held in the lowerv -tendinginto the groove 42 where it is frictionally held in position due to theresiliency of the sheet metal plate. Sale slips or other sheets to beprinted are then positioned over the printing plate, which is rested ona table or other suitable support, and the casing is then swungdownwardly to the closed position, shown in Fig. l. The printing is theneffected by .depressing the handle to cause the rollers to move back andforth across the sheets. Ordinarily one complete reciprocation back andforth is sullicient so that the closing of the space between the casingand plate holder, the movement ofthe car- In the first v riage back andforthand the opening movement of the casing can be effected by a singlecontinuous downward and upward movement of the handle. The downwardmovement of the handle not only serves to reciprocate the carriage butalso forces the pressure means (the rollers in the illustration) and theimpression means (the printing plate) together to compress the sheetstherebetween. Inasmuch as the sales slips are ordinarily attachedattheir upper ends to a pad holder, the plate holder 2 is preferablyrounded at its left-hand end as shown in Fig. 7 so that it may readilybe inserted under the sheets to be printed by lifting these sheetsslightly from the remaining sheets of the pad.

It will, of course, be understood that the uppermost sheet is printed bythe ink ribbon 34 and that any number of underlying sheets may beprinted by inserting carbon sheets therebetween in the usual manner. Bylocating the printing plate on the side of the sheets opposite the inkribbon, the plate contacts with neither ink ribbon nor carbon sheets,and is therefore not soiled in use, so that it may be handled andcarried in a purse without danger of soiling the hands or pursecontents.

From the foregoing it will be evident that the unique relationshipbetween the plate holder and the pressure means not only avoids soilingthe plate with either ink ribbon or carbon paper but also facilitatesthe insertion and removal of the printing plate. By using rollerpressure means the impression is sharp and clear, even with aconsiderable number of carbon copies; and in this connection I havefound rollers of hard fiber composition to be superior, althoughbakelite and other materials are suitable for many purposes.

'From the foregoing it will be evident that the printing pressure isapproximately proportional to the resistance of springs l1 and 1,8 andis largely independent of the preslsure applied to the handle inasmuchas the downward pressure between the rollers and printing plateincreases until the force applied to the handle is suiici'ent toovercome the resistance of the springs, whereupon the rollers start toroll over the slips, thereby preventing the printing pressure fromfurther increasing. Thus excessive force applied to the handle merelyresults in quicker movement of the rollers across the slips withoutdamaging the printing plate or causing the raised letters to cut throughthe slips. This action may be more readily apparent when it isconsidered that if the springs be removed the slightest downwardpressure on the handle would move the rollers across the slips withoutany substantial component of force downward to compress the slipsbetween the rollers and printing `plate. v

I claim 1. In a device for printing names and addresses or other lndrcia011 sales slips or vthe like, the combination of opposed impress1onmeans and pressure means movable apart for the insertion of sheetstherebe-l tween, the impression means having thereon indicia arranged innon-reversed order so that each slip may have the indicia printedthereon from anvink sheet on the side of the slip opposite theimpression means, said pressure means comprising a roller, and means formoving the roller laterally over the sheets progressively to press thevlatter against each other and the impression means under the influenceof rolling pressure.

2. A device for printing naines and addresses 01 other indicia on salesslips or the like comprising a casing having an open end and a printingplate holder associated therewith, the parts havingrelative move- .mentto permit the insertion and removal of sheets therebetween, means in thecasing for feeding an ink ribbon across said open end, and pressuremeans including a roller in the casing for pressing a portion of saidribbon against the face of a sheet inserted between the open end and theplate holder, whereby the indicia on the printing plate may bereproduced on the sheet without direct contact between the plate and theribbon.

3. A device for printing names and addresses or other indicia on salesslips or the like comprising a casing having an opening therein, a plateholder pivoted to the casing to present a printing plate to saidopening, and pressure means in the casing for pressing sheets againstsaid plate.

4. A device for printing names and addresses or other indicia on salesslips or the like comprising a casing having an opening therein, a plateholder pivoted to the casing to present a printing plate to saidopening, reciprocating means including a roller in the casing forcompressing sheets against said plate, and means for automaticallyfeeding an ink ribbon across the opening in front of the roller.

5. A device for printing names and addresses or other indicia on salesslips or the like comprising a printing plate holder, a roller forprogressively pressing successive portions of a sheet against theprinting plate, said roller being movable' along a path parallel to theplate, and means for movingthe roller along said path including anactuator movable transversely of said path.

6. A device for printing names and addresses or other indicia on salesslips or the like comprising a printing plate holder, a roller movablealong the plate holder for progressively pressing successive portions ofthe slips against the printing plate, and means for conjointly moving te roller and compressing the slips between the late holder and roller,including a spring or moving the roller in one direction and an actuatorfor moving the roller in the other direction against the action of thespring, the actuator advancing in a directlon to force the roller towardthe printing plate.

7. A device for printing names and addresses or the like on sales sli sor the like comprising a base, a superpose head, means on the base fordetachably holding a separable printing plate in printing osltionrelatively to the head, the head belng movable from the base to affordan unobstructed view of the plate when in printing osition and in theabsence of a superpose sales slip, and to permit the insertion of sailslips over the plate with an ink sheet between the slips and head f andmeans on the head for pressing the sh s against the plate when the headis moved ack to printing position.

8. The method of printing names and addresses on sales slips and thelike with identification plates carried by customers, which comprisespressing the plates against the back ofthe sheets to be printed andconcomitantly ressing inked material against the front o? the sheets,whereby the indicia on the lates may be in non-reversed order for reareading and is reproduced on the sheets without inking the plates.

9. A device for printing names and addresses or the like on sales slipsor the like with separable identification plates, com rising a base anda movable head, the base aving its surface facing the head unobstructedwhen the head is moved away and shaped to interfit with the plates so asto hold a plate in printin posltion without attaching the plate to thease, and means on the head for pressing the slips against the plate.

10. A device for printing names and addresses or the like on sales slipsor the like with separable identification plates, comprising a base, ahead movably mounted there: on, the base includin means for detachablyretaining an identification plate during printing, means movablerelativel to the ead for pressing slips against t e plate when sopositioned, and a handle for successively moving the head toward thebase and then actuating said means in one continuous movement in thesame general direction.

movable relatively to the head for progressively pressing successiveportions of slips against the plate when so positioned, and a handle forsuccessively movin the head toward the base and then actuating saidroller in one continuous movement in the same general direction.

12. A device for printing names and addresses or the like on sales slipsor the like with separable identification plates, comprising a base, ahead movably mounted thereon, the base includinr means for detachablyretaining an identification plate during printing, pressure meanscarried by the head for progressively pressing successive portions ofsheets to be printed against a plate when so ositioned, and meansincluding a handle or successively moving the head toward the base andthen actuating said pressure means by one continuous movement of thehandle in one general direction. v

13. A device for printing names and addresses or the like on sales slipsor the like with separable identification plates, comprising a baseincludin means or'detachably retaining an identi cation plate duringprinting, a head connected to said base for swinging toward said base toa printing position and away from said base to ermit a sheet to besuperposed on an identi cation plate, pressuremeans carried by the headand movable relatively thereto for said sheet against the plate, andmeans includin a handle for successively moving the head toward the baseand then actuating said pressure means by one continuous movement of thehandle in one general direction.

14. A device for printing names and addresses or other indicia on salesslips or the like, comprising a printing plate holder, a roller forprogressively pressing successive portions o a sheet against 'theprinting plate, said roller being movable along a path parallel to theplate, and means for moving said roller along said path includinghaplunger movable transversely of said pat 15. A device for printing namesand addresses or other indicia on sales slips or the like, comprising aplate holder for detachably retaining an identification plate, a movablehead pivotally associated with said plate holder, and pressure meanscarried by said head and movable transversely of said head for pressingsheets against said plates.

16. A device for printing names and addresses or the like on sales slipsor the like with separable identification plates, comprising a plateholder for such plates, a head movably associated therewith, a rollercarried by said head for progressively pressing successive portions ofslips against a plate retained by said plate holder, a roller-movingmember associated with said roller for moving the same, a plungermovable transversely to the path of the roller, cam mechanism fortransmitting movement of said plunger to said roller-moving member, anda handle lever engageable with said head and saidplunger for actuatingsaid plun er.

17. A device for printing upon sales s ips or the like Withidentification plates of the type suitable to be carried by customersand bearing indicia such as the customers name and address in raisedLetters disposed over a substantial area thereof, com rising means fordetachably retainin suc a plate in position for its raise letters toprint through a superposed sales slip to the opposite side thereof,means for applying ink to the side of said sales slip opposite to theplate, and means Jfor pressing the sales slip against the platethroughout said area Without substantial movement of the slip in thedirection of its length during printing and for simultaneously pressingthe ink applying means against the sales slip, thereby to print upon theside of the sales slip opposite to the late.

18. A device tor printing upon sales slips or the like Withidentilication plates of the type suitable to be carried by customersand bearing indicia such as the custcmers name and address in raisedletters disposed over a substantial area thereof, com rising means fordetachably retaining suc a plate in position for its raised letters toprint through a superposed sales slip to the opposite side thereo, meansfor applying ink to to the side of said sales slip opposite to theplate, and means for appl in rolling pressure to the sales slip and7plate over said area occupied by said raised letters Without substantialmovement of the slip in. the direction of its length during printing andfor simultaneously pressing the ink applying means a ainst t e salesslip, thereby to print upon t e side of the sales slip opposite to theplate.

19. In a device for printing names and addresses or other indicia onsales slips or the like, of the type having a s ace for the insertion ofsheets to be prmte impression means on one side of the space, saidimpression means comprising a removable plate having lines of raisedletters disposed substantially in a plane, and an ink sheet and pressuremeans on the other side of the space, the pressure means comprising, karoller, and means for rolling the roller over the sheets pro ressivel topress the latter against each ot ver and t e im ression means.

20. In a device for printmg names and addresses or other indicia onsales slips or the like, of the type having a s ace for the insertion ofsheets to be prmte impression means on one side of the space, saidimpression means comprising a generall vflat printing plate suita le tobe carrie by a custemer, and an ink sheet and pressure means on theother side of the space, the pressure means comprlsing a roller, andmeans for ,rolling the roller over the sheets progresing a basedetachably to receive one of said plates, a head mounted on the base topermit the insertion of said slips therebetween, pressure means movablymounted on the head to press the slips a ainst said plate, a handle foractuating sai means, and means for controlling the pressure so that theprinting pressure is largely independent of the force applied to thehandle.

22. A devlce for printing names and addresses or the like on sales slipsor the like with separable identification plates, comprising a basedetachably to receive one of said plates, a head movably mounted on thebase to permit the insertion of said slips therebetween When the head ismoved away from the base, pressure means movably mounted on the headv topress the slips against said plate, a handle for moving the head towardthe base and actuating said pressure means in one continuous movement inthe same general direction, and a spring arranged to resist saidmovement during actuation, of the pressure'means so that the printingpressure is approximately proportional to the resistance of the sprinand largely independent of the force app led to the handle.

23. A device for printing names and addresses or other indlcia on salesslips or thc like comprising a casing having an opening therein, a plateholder pivoted to the casing to present a printing plate to saidopening, a ressure member 1n the casing and movab e across the openingfor compressing sheets against said plate, and means for automaticallyfeeding an ink ribbon across the openin 1n front of the pressure member.

Si ed y me at Boston, Massachusetts, this rst day of Ma 1929.

RICH RD M. DUGDALE.

